"And what exactly were you all doing at the lake?" Cheif Powel asked.
The four of you were sat down on the couch, Max, you, Dustin, and Lucas.
Surrounded by Dustin's mom, Lucas's parents and Erica, Mike's parents, and the police.
Dustin looked from Lucas to you, "uh... it's comp-"
"We were..." Max started but trailed off.
"Going for a walk." You finished quickly.
"A walk?" Officer Callahan asked, "at 9 pm?"
Dustin's voice went a little higher, "to the lake."
Callahan gave him a look.
"We were gonna," Dustin looked down, "take a little swim."
You all tried not to look suspicious.
"Take a little night swim." Dustin continued.
"Dusty." Mrs. Henderson said, "someone was just murdered there."
Dustin voice went back to normal, "yeah, we didn't realize that until we got there."
"That's why we didn't swim." Lucas explained.
"And Nancy," Mrs. Wheeler asked, "was she with you at this night swim?"
"No"
"Yes."
Dustin and Max looked at each other.
"We're not sure." Lucas said.
"She was there, then she left." You said.
"It's all a little confusing." Dustin said.
"That's when you guys came." Lucas said.
"Right. Then they dared me to say what I said." Max said.
"Oh yeah." Lucas said laughing with Dustin.
"About the killer." Max explained.
"You're lucky you didn't get shot." Ted remarked.
"Have you had any contact with Eddie?" Powel asked.
"That psycho..... freak killer?" Dustin asked, over doing it.
"God no." Lucas said.
"Nope. Absolutely not." Dsutin said.
"No, we haven't heard from him." Max said.
"Not since school no." You said.
"We barley know the guy." Lucas said.
"Who?" Dustin said.
"Oh that's a bunch of bull." Erica said walking past her parents.
"Erica!" Her parents scolded.
"I mean, you realize they're lying, the whole couch is on fire." Erica remarked.
"Erica." Her parents scolded.
"Just the facts." Erica sassed.
"Are you lying to these police-man Dusty?" Mrs. Henderson asked.
"No." Dustin told her mom in a high pitched voice.
"Lying to the cops is a crime son." Mr. Sinclair scolded his son.
"I'm not lying." Lucas whined.
"The fire is consuming us." Erica remarked.
You and Dustin gave her a look.
"Threten em with a little jail time, that'll loosen their lips." Ted suggested.
"Okay." You and Dustin said in usion.
"You wanna send our kids to jail?" Mrs. Sinclair asked.
"We need to take this seriously." Ted defended.
"He didn't mean it like that." Karen said.
The parents were overlapping their arguments for a minute until Cheif Powel had enough.
He stood up from his chair, "Shut Up!" He yelled.
Everyone quieted down.
"We're gonna try a more civilized approach." Powel suggested, "one at a time."
He pointed at Max, "you first."
Max objected, "wait what, why me?"
Powel started to walk off, "follow me."
"I'm not even in Hellfire." Max continued.
"Do I need to cuff you?" Callahan asked.
"I don't think you can do that." You said.
Max looked at you and the others before sighing and leaving.
♤♤♤♤♤
Lucas stood on the far side of the island in the Wheelers kitchen as you stood on the side.
Dustin cane back from trying to contact Steve and set the radio back on the island.
"Anything?" You asked.
"Nothing." Dustin said.
"You don't think they went through?" Lucas asked.
"Through watergate?" Dustin asked, "Without us? Without a plan? Without weapons? They wouldn't be that stupid."
"I don't know, the cops didn't see anything on the water that we know of, they could have." You suggested.
"They could be laying low got us." Dustin said.
"The law?" Erica said walking over to the island with her juice box, "what is this? Gunsmoke? The stupid and the ugly?"
She leaned on the island, "should I round up the posse? Saddle the horses?"
"Erica." Lucas said, "please, just go away."
"Here's the deal," Erica layed her hands on the island, "ether you tell me what's happening or, I tell the love birds over here what I found under your bed."
You and Dustin's head snapped in Lucas's direction.
Lucas looked up, "please, no."
"Spill your guts, cow puncher." Erica said.
"What'd she find under your bed?" Dustin asked.
"Nothing." Lucas defended.
Dustin looked at Erica, "is it gross?"
Erica nodded.
You looked at Eria, "scale from one to ten."
"A hundred." Erica said.
You and Dustin looked at Lucas, "a hundred?"
Lucas cracked, "the serial killer is a dark wizard from the Upside down."
Erica drank from her juice box.
"And we've been looking for him," Lucas continued, "but he's in the upside down, which we can't reach. At least we thought we couldn't, until we found a gate at Lovers Lake. That was the reason why we were there, bit these stupid cops grabbed us. And if you tell anyone about this. That's including Mom, and Dad, and Tina..."
Erica continued drinking from her juice box.
"Especially Tina, " Lucas continued, "I will smother you..."
Erica put the juice box down.
"In your sleep." Lucas said, "do you understand?"
Erica put a finger on her chin, "hmmm."
"Erica", Lucas slid across the counter, "Do. You. Copy?"
"The smothering in my sleep part, but not much else." Erica said, "why would they open up a gate at Lovers Lake?"
"What?" You asked.
"The commies." Erica said.
"The commies didn't do this." Lucas said.
"Then who did?" Erica asked.
"Nobody." Lucas said.
"So it just opened up, for fun?" Erica said.
"Erica, you have no idea what you're talking about." Lucas said.
"No she doesn't, but yet she raises an essential question." Dustin pointed out, "how did water gate open up?"
"Only two gates have opened up as far as we know. One by El, one by the commies." Dustin grabbed everyone's attention, "But it's not the commies or El this time, so it..."
He pauses, "Holy shit."
You furrowed your eyebrows.
"Wait, wait, wait." Dustin said taking a step back.
"Wait, wait, wait, what?" Lucas asked.
"There's one thing we've never understood. Which is why Vecnas killing people." Dustin said, walking around the island, "what's his motive? Killing teens? It always just seemed too random. Too prosaic."
Dustin slowly walked to the kitchen table, "on top of that, how does the mind flayer figure into all this?"
He stopped and turned around, "Maybe this is it. This is the answer."
"What is the answer?" Lucas asked.
Karen walked in with a cop behind her, "are you sure you just want water?"
She opened the fridge, "we have coke, sprite, doctor pepper."
"Coke works. Thank you." The cop said after Karen handed him a can.
The kids walked to the bottom of the stairs.
"Okay, just hear me out." Dustin said, "How did El open the mother gate?"
"She contacted the Demogorgon." You answered.
He smiled and pointed to his head, "with psychic contact. Just like..."
"Vecna when he casts his spells." You realized.
"Exactly." Dustin said, "so what if, with each kill, he's not simply killing them, he's making a powerful psychic connection with his victims?"
A lightbulb went off in your head, "a connection powerful enough to rip through time and space."
"He's opening more gates." Lucas said.
"Bingo." Dustin said.
A different cop waked about 10 feet from where you guys were, "Copy, we're still at the Wheelers house."
Dustin took your hand and directed you as the others followed to the dining room, "why would he be opening more gates?"
"To take over the world." Lucas suggested.
"Who do we know what's to take over the world?" Dustin asked.
"The mind flayer." Lucas said.
"So if the Demogorgon was just his foot soilder," you said, " Vecnas his five star general."
"A five star general with the power to open gates." Dustin said glancing a smile at you and giving your hand a light squeeze.
"Holy shit." Lucas said.
"Holy shit." You and Dustin said in sync.
"Holy shit. That was incomprehensible." Erica said, "you lost me at Mother gate, please be kind, rewind."
"Okay so you remember the gate?" Dustin asked.
"Oh. No. I blocked that out." Erica said.
You tuned out the rest of the conversation when you saw the porch light flickering.
♤♤♤♤♤
"And that brings us to the question you first raised." Dustin was pacing the kitchen as the three of you were sitting down.
"How and why is there a gate at Lovers Lake?" Dustin asked.
"Maybe the Earth had to physically throw up from two pairs of mushy gushy couples there." Erica suggested.
"Erica!" Lucas scolded.
You had to laugh quietly.
Dustin rolled his eyes, "Let's analyze. What do Eleven and Vecna have in common?"
You tuned out Dustin's explanation and glued your eyes to the lights.
The lights glowed a bit brighter for a few seconds then went back to normal.
After a second or two, the lights glowed 3x as brighter then went back to normal again.
Then the lights started blinking.
Erica saw it as well.
Dustin crouched down between the two of you, "are you guys even listening."
"Yeah I'm listening." Erica said.
"Not a word." You said, both pairs of eyes still fixed on the lights.
"It's just, " Erica stood up and walked to the lights. "You said you followed Vecna through the lights, right?"
"Yeah, but this isn't like that." You said, "the lights are signaling SOS. Someone's in trouble."
Dustin stood up and dragged you up by your hand, "Hey uh, remember when I said they wouldn't be stupid enough to go through watergate?"
"Yeah?" Lucas said.
Dustin turned around, "I over estimated them."
♤♤♤♤♤
"Hey!" Holly yelled at Lucas who unplugged her light bright.
You and Dustin ran in and took the pegs and the panel.
"Sorry sorry sorry." Lucas said, quickly racing after the two of you upstairs.
Erica ran in and gave her skittles, "for your understanding."
She ran off after everyone else.
You raced up the stairs and ran past the first door to open Nancy's bedroom door.
Dustin put the light bright down on her bed as the rest of you kneeled down beside it, pushing pegs into the panel to fill the surface.
Lucas raced to find an outlet to plug the cord in.
"Ok, you guys seeing this?" Dustin called out to the upside down.
The light bright glowed brighter.
"Holy shit!" Erica said.
As Dustin laughed and wrapped his arms around you in excitement.
You hugged back and pecked his cheek, which made his face go red, which was only noticeable to you in the dim light.
"We're not moving it, but we're unplugging it, stand by." Dustin called out.
He looked to Lucas, "Yank it."
The light shut off, the only light in the room being the lamp on the night stand.
"Ok try it now." You called out to the upside down.
A line appeared on the light bright, soon making a H, then an I.
"Hi!" Dustin called out excitedly.
"Hey." Lucas said into the air.
"That worked!" You called out.
The light faded.
An S came onto the board, then a T, then a U.
The letters faded.
"Stupid?" Erica suggested.
A C and K showed on the panel.
"Stuck." Erica said.
"Ok, they're stuck in the upside down." Lucas said.
"Okay, uh, you can't get back through water gate?" Dustin asked into the air.
A G showed up on the panel.
"That a 6?" Dustin asked.
"G" you said.
"Ah." Dustin realized.
A U came up, then an A and R.
The letters faded.
Then D E D spelled out on the panel.
"Guarded." Lucas read.
"Okay, uh, watergates guarded." Dustin said.
"Okay, uh, there's a gate at every murder site." You called out to the air.
A question mark showed up on the panel.
"Okay, seriously?" Dustin called out, "how many times do we have to be right on the money for you guys to just trust us?"
You heard a door open down stairs and you stood up and walked down the hallway to hear footsteps behind you.
Dustin walked up to you, grabbed your hand and walked down to the end of the stairs.
You saw Max with her headphones on.
Dustin motioned with his hands for her to follow them.
She sighed before following you up the stairs.
♤♤♤♤♤
Your bikes ticked as you all raced out the garage.
"Hey!" Officer Callahan yelled out Nancy's window, "Excuse me! Get back here."
"Let's go! Let's go!" You yelled as you peddled down the driveway to the street.
"Just a minor misdemeanor." Erica said before stapping the police tires.
She hopped on a bike and raced with you.
"I taught you well." You said, looking at Erica.
She smiled, "pretty much."
♤♤♤♤♤
Dustin poked the portal in Eddie's trailer before it broke open and dripped into the upside down.
You saw Steve leading the others to the portal.
Dustin laughed, "hi there!"
"Hi." Steve said.
"Hi." Nancy repeated.
Dustin laughed once more.
"Holy shit this is trippy." Robin said.
"Bada bada boom!" Dustin yelled into the portal.
♤♤♤♤♤
Dustin and Erica were tying the sheets together to make a rope as you saw Lucas and Max bringing a mattress from Eddie's room whivh had a couple yellow stains on it, and dropping it on the floor.
You closed the fridge door, after seeing there was nothing to eat and walked over to the portal.
"Those stains are uh," Eddie tried to explain, "yeah I don't know what those stains are."
Erica and Dustin were finished with the rope and Dustin brought it over, "not quite sure how these physics are gonna work, but uh, here goes nothing."
He threw the rope up and it dropped onto the floor on both dimensions.
Dustin still held onto our side of the portals rope, "and if my theory is correct."
He let go of the rope and it stayed, "huh, abracadabra."
"Holy shit." Max said.
You looked up at the portal, "Alright pull on it see if it holds."
Robin grabbed onto the rope and held her weight to it, it held up.
"This is the craziest shit I've ever seen in my life. And I've seen some crazy shit." Erica said.
You held out a hand to Erica, which she high fived.
Robin started to climb on the rope.
"Alright let's clear the landing pad." Dustin said as he backed up with everyone.
Robin climbed until she came through the portal and dropped on the mattress.
She sat up, "Oh thank God, that was fun."
You offered her a hand up, which she took.
Eddie looked at the others, "ok I guess I'll go." He climbed up the rope and dropped harshly on the mattress.
"That was fun." He said taking Dustin's hand.
Steve looked at Nancy, "se enough on the other side."
She stood still.
He looked back to Nancy.
"Nancy?" He called but no answer.
He took her shoulder, "Nancy, Hey? Hey!"
You looked to see that she was in a trance, a lot like Max's.
Steve shook her shoulders, "stay with me, hey! Nancy! Nancy wake up! Wake up Nancy!"
"Vecna." Max said as she looked up.
Hey guys. Last chapter before V2, yay. Yeah I'm not excited either. Probobly gonna be a bit before I post Papa and piggyback, because for half of that I will be crying on the floor. And I know that Josaph Quin said he would be in season 5, half excited, but that also means, there might be a part we're Dustin gets Vecna'd because he felt guilty about his death so, idk if ill like him being in season 5 or not. Crossing my fingers he'll pull a Hopper instead. Anyway, drink water if you haven't today, and eat something if you haven't. And god help me get some sleep if it's 2 in the morning, we all know you need it. Have a great day/night.
Word count: 2654